Murder accused’s version of Jeremiah Ruiters’s death takes focus

Cape Town - Little Jeremiah Ruiters started breathing heavily, pulling his arms over his face and then fell to the ground before arriving dead at Kensington Clinic.

This the version his alleged killer, Ameerudien Peters, gave to police.

Eighteen-month-old Jeremiah was raped, beaten and stabbed. He died on June 12, 2017 as a result of blunt force trauma to his spine, a cracked skull, broken ribs and bite marks all over his body, including his face and genitals.

Peters and his girlfriend, Jeremiah’s mother Abigail Ruiters, are on trial.

Peters faces a charge of rape and murder, while Ruiters is charged with abuse and neglect of Jeremiah and her two daughters, aged 11 and six.

On Thurday, the Western Cape High Court admitted statements made by both accused to police regarding Jeremiah’s death.

Peters told police that on the day of the incident, he was cleaning at about 11am as he watched Jeremiah sleeping. He said he was “breathing very fast and loud, pulling his arms and hands towards his face.”

Peters said he ran, carrying the toddler, to the clinic in 13th Avenue, Factreton. “While running over the street to the pavement, my foot slipped and I fell on top of Jeremiah to the ground.”

On arrival at the clinic, he told the nurses that the child wasn’t breathing. “The nurse started to give him CPR. They found no signs of life,” he said.

Ruiters made two statements to police, one before Jeremiah’s death on March 16, 2016 and another the day after Jeremiah’s death.

The first statement detailed how Jeremiah had sustained an injury to his arm and neck. Ruiters said she had just arrived home when she noticed that the child was injured.

Her mother, Gail Ruiters, and Peters said Jeremiah had fallen off the table. She took the child to the clinic and was referred to Somerset Hospital.

Ruiters said on the fateful day, at about 11am, she was told that her child was sick at Kensington Clinic. When she got to the clinic, she was told the child had died.

The State asked for a postponement to June 10, when the forensic pathologist would be available to testify.